Coaching Notes: Bowles, Fisher, Kelly

Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News defends Todd Bowles, saying the second-year Jets head coach should be given at least another season at the helm. Furthermore, he notes that firing Bowles could create a toxic environment, comparing that scenario to the Cleveland Browns.

“Woody needs to stay the course,” a league executive told Mehta. “He can’t be switching this every two years, because (the coaching vacancy) would become unattractive for a lot of coaches. He doesn’t want to have that job that’s turning over every two years. He’s got to give Bowles another shot.”

In his one-plus seasons in New York, Bowles has compiled a 13-15 record.

Mehta also reports that the Jets gave one-year extensions to position coaches prior to the season, although “it’s a near certainty” that some of those assistants won’t stick around.

Let’s check out some other coaching notes from around the NFL…

  • Meanwhile, Jets wideout Brandon Marshall pointed to his former organization, the Bears, when explaining why the team shouldn’t fire Bowles. “No, I would hope not,” Marshall told Darryl Slater of NJ.com. “How did that work out for Chicago? Sometimes, you blow up stuff, and you feel like that’s the answer. And it’s not. That’s one of the reasons why football is so terrible in the NFL these days, is because there’s so much turnover…And it’s not just football at this level. People expect guys to win right away. You bring in a new regime, and they say you have a year or two to do it. You need time to build things. You need chemistry.” 
  • The Rams have been widely criticized for giving extensions to coach Jeff Fisher and GM Les Snead, but Snead says the new deals mean the team has “unfinished business” to address. “First of all, what it means is, we’re not satisfied with where we’re at. We’ve got unfinished business,” Snead said, according to Rich Hammond of the Los Angeles Daily News. “We think we can get this thing tipped, and that’s our goal. That’s where all the energy is spent. You’re not going to sleep until it gets done. We have great fans and we’ve been supported. It’s unbelievable. Any time you’re having a disappointing season, you feel for the fans first, because they come and they spend their energy and passion, and we’ve got to do a better job.”
  • Despite the team’s 1-11 record, 49ers receiver Torrey Smith is convinced that head coach Chip Kelly will be sticking around. “He ain’t going anywhere anyways,” Smith told Eric Branch of SFGate.com. “I don’t think it’s a situation where guys are really concerned about that.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

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